March is an important month
for Stonington Public Schools as we enter budget deliberations.I have included an important Summary of the
2015 – 2016 Proposed Education Budget prepared by Dr. Van Riley, Superintendent
of School.

2015-16 Education Budget Summary

Prepared by Van Riley, Superintendent

After several months of deliberations and
discussion, the Board of Education approved the 2015-16 Education Budget on
February 12, 2015. The vote was
unanimous by the Board of Education.
The following is a summary of the budget.

Overview – The final budget includes an increase of
5.35% over the 2014-15 budget. This
increase follows two years of underfunded budgets. The 2012-13 budget included a 2.5% increase
and the 2014-15 budget only a 1.5% increase.
In both of those years, approximately 6.5% was needed for a
maintenance or status quo budget. This
year’s 5.35% increase is basically a maintenance or status quo budget.

There are basically three areas in this budget that
resulted in the 5.35% increase. First,
contractual requirements for salary and benefit increases accounted for
approximately $1.2M or 3.4% of the increase.
Second, utility costs, especially in the area of electricity,
increased due to the cost of natural gas in New England. Utility increases accounted for
approximately $610,000 or 1.7% of the increase. Lastly, several new special education
students with legally required services and programs enrolled in the district
resulting in an additional $550,000 or 1.5% increase. These three areas totaled over 6.5%. However, the Board of Education and
administration made other adjustments to lower that percentage to the 5.35%
level.

If the Board of Finance reduces the proposed
increase below the 5.35% level, programs and staff will be reduced or
eliminated. Again this is a
maintenance, status quo budget with few enhancements.

It is important for the Board of Finance to allow
the community the opportunity to set direction for the future of the district
by bringing the proposed 5.35% increase to referendum. Parents are encouraged to support this
effort and to let our elected officials know how important it is to maintain
quality schools.

April 14: BOF Public Hearing on Budget –
Stonington High School 7:00
PM

April 15: BOF
Special Meeting / Budget – Stonington High School 7:00 PM

Dr. Riley will be at Deans Mill School on
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 6PM to meet with DMS parents about the budget and to
answer questions related to the budget put forth.Please consider attending this meeting and
supporting the budget process over the next few months.